History Main / ShowDonttell

'''Now this line is sometimes quoted as an absolute gospel truth, which is not really true.''' It's certainly a good habit to get into (particularly in character writing; nobody likes being ''told'' what they're supposed to think of someone), but it's not an ironclad rule, and knowing when to break it to quickly explain minor details is a major aspect of learning to write. One of the best times to Tell something instead of Show it is when you want to summarize lots of events—the written equivalent of a TimePassesMontage. Some times, one might Show so much that it becomes TooMuchInformation.

* PurpleProse: Pretentious, extravagant wordplay that will make readers want to skim through for fear of pages and pages of mundane description.

* HollywoodPudgy: Alice is of ideal or slightly below ideal weight, has broad shoulders, and has round cheeks. Characters act as though Alice is fat.

** InformedHopelessness: "It's all pointless. Bob is too strong to be defeated." said Alice after beating Bob nineteen consecutive times.

It's important to note that TropesAreTools - there are reasons why an author may prefer to tell but not show. See UnreliableNarrator and RashomonStyle.

* Administrivia/JustAFaceAndACaption: Images for tropes should ''show'' the trope being used, rather than just have the caption tell how the trope is used in the image.

This also relates to sentence-by-sentence writing decisions that have more to do with an author's language and word choice than anything else. In general, something happens in every sentence written. Is the author merely stating those events, or describing them? "Alice was angry and upset over Bob's death" is the telling version of "As her husband slumped to the floor, with blood gushing from his throat, Alice's heart raced and she chocked back tears." One of these two sentences has slightly more dramatic power, and it's for reasons of impact that showing is generally advocated over telling.

* To '''tell''' that she is a badass, the narrator, Alice herself and/or other characters around her would [[FauxActionGirl merely state that fact]]. For instance, they might report on previous incidents that have happened in the past and/or "offscreen" while the other characters were busy. Or maybe there'll be no support for the statement whatsoever, but that's unlikely ("Hey, did you hear about the badass things Alice did the other day?" "No, I didn't." "Well, they sure were badass!" *[[ChirpingCrickets crickets]]*). In particularly {{egregious}} works, the narrator may state that Alice is a badass, even going so far as to include list of badass things she did, and then [[InformedAbility never mention it again]] or--taking the cake here--''not have her act badass'' when the option is available.

If you're using a story structure or {{Point of View}} that doesn't include a narrator (such as limited third-person, in which you only see into the head of one character), showing is a far better idea, if only because having a narrator suddenly show up just to tell this stuff would break the reader's {{Willing Suspension of Disbelief}}. It's even more important in a visual medium, since people don't tend to [[ThatMakesMeFeelAngry say precisely what they're thinking or how they feel about it]] for a hypothetical audience's benefit; watching [[AsYouKnow two characters discuss the details of something they both already know]] rather than making economical use of a flashback to when one or both ''didn't'' know is extremely poor storytelling.

This also relates to sentence-by-sentence writing decisions that have more to do with an author's language and word choice than anything else. In general, something happens in every sentence written. Is the author merely stating those events, or describing them? "Alice was angry and upset over Bob's death" is the telling version of "Alice's heart raced as her husband slumped to the floor, blood gushing from his throat." One of these two sentences has slightly more dramatic power, and it's for reasons of impact that showing is generally advocated over telling.

Now this line is sometimes quoted as an absolute gospel truth, which is not really true. It's certainly a good habit to get into (particularly in character writing; nobody likes being ''told'' what they're supposed to think of someone), but it's not an ironclad rule, and knowing when to break it to quickly explain minor details is a major aspect of learning to write. One of the best times to Tell something instead of Show it is when you want to summarize lots of events—the written equivalent of a TimePassesMontage. Some times, one might Show so much that it becomes TooMuchInformation.

%%* {{Exposition}}

* HollywoodPudgy: Alice is of ideal or slightly below ideal weight, has broad shoulders, and has round cheeks. Alice is fat.

** HollywoodPudgy: Alice is of ideal or slightly below ideal weight, has broad shoulders, and has round cheeks. Alice is fat.
* InformedAttribute: We are told that Alice is smart/funny/ugly/pretty/a vampire, but we never see any evidence for this.

* InformedAttribute: We are told that Alice is smart/funny/ugly/pretty/can turn into a bat, but we never see any evidence for this.

!!Tropes:

[[quoteright:164:[[Webcomic/SluggyFreelance http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/donttellus.png]]]]
[[caption-width-right:164:Unless, of course, you are [[LampshadeHanging Lampshading it]] [[PlayedForLaughs for laughs.]]]]

For example, say Alice is a {{Badass}}:

* CharacterShilling: "Wow," said Alice, "Bob is the most amazing guy in this whole story, isn't he?" "He sounds wonderful; I can't wait to meet him," said Carol.

* AndThatsTerrible: When the narrator reminds the audience, [[ViewersAreMorons in case they missed it]], that what the villain did was terrible. [[HypocriticalHumor Which is a bad device and shouldn't be used.]]

* MeaningfulName: A quick (some might even say lazy) way to let us know what a character is like.

->"A little less conversation, a little more action..."

* MeaninglessMeaningfulWords: Words that sound epic but don't really contribute anything to the story.
* NameThatUnfoldsLikeLotusBlossom: Now imagine saying it every time you introduce yourself.
** TryToFitThatOnABusinessCard: Most people reading that business card probably wouldn't care about half the titles on it.

* CostumePorn: Writers attempting to show how detailed clothing is, even though it usually is not necessary to do so.

* Anything on ItsNotPornItsAnIndex: Some aspect of the characters or setting is gone into in so much detail that it distracts from the real story.